A little background: I've been doing electrical and electronics for over 40 years and was an aviation electronics tech in the US Navy so I've worked on everything from simple car/truck/trailer wiring, residential/commercial electrical, and electrical/electronics on military aircraft so I've dealt with wires as small as 24awg all the way up to 500 MCM (wires about 1" across) which means I've done a fair bit of splicing in my life. Now with that said nothing will replace a straight un-spliced wire but that's in a perfect world. Your sooner or later going to have to repair a wire or connect prewired devices to existing wiring. A solder joint is one of the best ways to do this and adding heat shrink to protect and insulate the splice has been the best method and next being a mechanical splice which is the next best thing. I found out about these via a YouTube video and of course looked on Amazon for them, I found so many different sellers and the reviews ranged from 1 Star to 5 Stars so I thought I would order some and give them a try. Glad I did because they work great and plan to buy more. From what I can see after using them and seeing the complaint reviews is a couple of things.
#1 DO NOT USE A LIGHTER OR TORCH! Use a heat gun if you can. Remember these are basically made of plastic with some low temp solder inside. If you use a lighter or torch then you have to be very careful about how close to the splice you are and how long you concentrate that heat in one spot. I understand not everyone has a heat gun and if fixing wiring in a place you don't have an electrical outlet to plug one in will happen.
#2 Make sure you have clean wire! By this I mean when you strip out the end of the wire it should be nice shiny copper, not corroded (copper turns green when corroded and in worse case black) and the reason is that the solder band inside the heat shrink does have some flux content to it but not enough to etch away that corrosion to allow a good flow of wire between the stands on the two wires your splicing.
Tips: Make sure you strip out the end of the wire long enough for them to overlap one another and stay in the area of the solder sleeve. Make sure the copper is nice and clean (shiny). Applying heat to one end first to help hold one of the wires in place while you hold the other end in place with your hand. Keep your heat source (heat gun preferred) a good distance away from the splice, if it's not shrinking then move it a little closer until it starts to shrink or melt the solder band, if you see the heat shrink sleeve start to darken or burn your too close! Make sure your rotating the splice as your shrinking and soldering it, a common mistake when using this product or just heat shrink alone is that the person just holds it in once place and holds the heat source in one spot expecting it to heat the entire thing and shrink. If you see the insulation on the wire start to melt or bubble again you have the heat source too close to the wire or your concentrating that heat in one spot too long. In the picture I attach you can see the smallest splice that they have used to splice two wires (18-20 awg copper stranded, I don't remember) and the splice is still translucent and the solder flowed great (note the right side wire, the insulation is a little bubbled and thats my fault with the heat in one spot too long and also with that small of a gauge of wire it can heat up really quick).
Over all being a little skeptical of the product based on the reviews I got it anyways and I'm glad I did! I planed on only using these on splices where they needed to be water proof but after using them and seeing how well they work I will use them for every splice from now on. Hope this helps others in making their decision on weather or not to buy and try these splices.
I've worked on electronics for years - I have soldered / heatshrinked wires of all sizes - I have used different crimp connectors over the years as well. I did not expect these would work as well as they show on the videos. I was wrong.
They work very well. I had the best results using a heat gun. I tried a lighter. This worked somewhat. Or mostly? But I was not happy with how it looked and some of the solder looked to have not melted. I then tried a torch. I got it too hot and it melted (my fault). I started from scratch with a heat gun (at about 650 F). It took longer than I expected at first, but the finished product was near perfect and way less effort than any other means of joining wires like this. I have to (shockingly) admit this is a great product. I will keep these around from now on!
I just rewired the lights on my trailer and used these for all the connections. I used them two different ways. Where I could, I slid the connector on the wire, soldered it with a soldering iron and then moved the connector into place and used the heat gun. On a few of the connections it wasn't convenient to pre-solder so I just used the connector and heat gun for the only connection. I payed close attention to the solder and it seemed to flow well and create a strong joint. I really liked them for wires that are exposed to the elements. So far so good, I will update this review if I start having problems with any of the connections.
Jam 2 wires together in the sleeve under the solder band. Stranded wires are best left loose to mix with the mating wires and best get soaked well in the solder. It takes more heat to melt the solder than the heat shrink but it comes together well and the solder spreads out over the joint. I found the clear heat shrink thin, so put another piece of heat shrink over the joint. There is no mechanical bond like a crimp so you only have the solder holding things together and normally you are not suppose to use an electrical bond as a mechanical bond, but in low tension (as in pull) applications, they should work fine.
I was initially skeptical but hopeful when I ordered this. My wife ran over the lawnmower cord and the way this cord is attached, you must repair and not replace. When I received this I quickly did a test sample. I used a BBQ lighter, not a heat gun, I pushed the wires into each other and added a bit of flux to make things flow easily. Anytime you solder you should add flux. It's cheap and flux works very well. I started at the ends to stabilize the wire. Then I worked the center to join the wires. I kept heating the center until the solder changed to a darker color. Once done I finished the rest of the connector. I did not touch the flame to the plastic sleve except where you solder. That area got some carbon buildup but wiped off easily. This is a solid connection. I've included a picture of my test piece. The only reason I touched the center area was to just get this as hot as possible. So the solder melted but the shrink casing did not. Gosh I wish I invented this stuff.
Feature Product
- More convenient than the old way: no need to crimp, just use a heat gun then you can finish the connection.
- Cost effective Butt Connectors: 120PCS, include 40 Red, 40 Blue, 30 White, 10 Yellow.
- Easy to identify: Specific color for Specific size, easy to pick up for use.
- Waterproof and Insulated: widely used for marine and automobile.
- High Quality - Comply with all relevant European standards; Shrinking ratio: 2:1
Description
Specification:
Shrinkage ratio is 2:1
Temperature that start to shrink: 80℃
Temperature that solder ring start to melt: 111˚C
Temperature that solder ring melt completely：138˚C
Note: It means the temperature of surface of the connector, rather than the temperature that the hot air gun should set.
How to use:
1.Select the right size of connectors for the wire.
2.Insert the two wire to the connector.
3.Apply heat to the connector slowly and evenly with a hot air gun.
Package Include:
1.30 x White Connectors: Diameter 1.7 mm, able cross-section 0.25-0.34 mm²(A.W.G.:26-24);
2.40 x Red Connectors: Diameter 2.7 mm, Cable cross-section 0.5-1.0 mm²(A.W.G.:22-18);
3.40 x Blue Connectors: Diameter 4.5 mm, Cable cross-section 1.5-2.5 mm²(A.W.G.:16-14);
4.10 x Yellow Connectors: Diameter 6.0 mm, Cable cross-section 4.0-6.0 mm²(A.W.G.:12-10).
Important Note: There is no need to crimp for our wire connectors and our connectors can not be crimped. Just use a heat gun and then you can finish your project, which is much more convenient than the old way.
Well my first couple of tries didn’t go well but I had never used any before once I got through the learning curve on how to heat them and use alligator clips to hold them instead of your fingers then they were awesome very clean look and I can’t believe how strong the are💪 I will never use a crimp fitting again. I can’t wait to see if you guys come out with ones with different ends on them for other applications what a great idea thank you John Fishburn
WHY DIDN'T I KNOW ABOUT THIS PRODUCT YEARS AGO... You will love these connectors . I found out after a couple of times what i think helps them work a little better ids after you put your wires in the connectors gently crimp down on the connection then apply your heat. Go easy with the heat and you will get a great connection. What i think is also great is that they shrink tho the wire and are water proof.. WHAT A GREAT PRODUCT..
These connectors were easy to use when replacing some broken plugs. Have a Toro electric start mower that the charging plug was pulled apart. use this connectors to replace the plug on the mower and the charger. Using a heat gun to melt the solder and heat shrink worked great.
Worked great for fixing a long mini USB cord I have running to one of my outside cameras. Was easy to use and held very well. Much easier than crimps I tried to use before!
Purchase these connectors to repair my motorcycle.
Well designed and made connectors. Comes with a range of sizes to fit various applications.
120 pieces can be used for a long time.
Overall a 5-star product.
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